December 2007 Volume 30, Issue 2

Manasota Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~flmgs

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2007-2008 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Anne Young Vice President: Jean Morris Treasurer: Melvin Ely Membership: Jim McHugh Secretary: Linda Leber Book Comm.: Linda Smith Obituary Comm: Ruby Young Editor: Nancy Ely Don’t forget that the MGS Board meets the last Wednesday of the month at 10:00 at the Manatee History Records Library in Bradenton (October-May). All members are invited to attend.

Unlocking the Past Towards the Future

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Every effort is made to publish accurate information. However, the Society assumes NO RESPONSIBILITY for the accuracy of any published materials. Established errors will be corrected in the next issue.

Times – They Are A-changing! It seems fitting to quote Bob Dylan’s 1960’s song during this edition of our newsletter. Our times are definitely “a-changing”!!!!! As many of you have already learned, we were recently informed that the Central Library will now be closed on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Of course, this meant that we needed to “go with the flow” and figure out how to adjust our meeting days and times. Your Board of Directors met, and later presented to the membership, a decision to hold our meetings on the first Tuesday of the month at the same time (9:30 a.m.) Naturally, as soon as this decision was made, we realized that the first Tuesday of 2008 is New Year’s Day! (doesn’t that just figure!!!!!!) Therefore, I am listing each meeting day and topic on the front page of our newsletter, so that you can print off the top sheet and post it for quick reference!

UPCOMING MANASOTA GENEALOGY SOCIETY MEETINGS

Tuesday, January 8 (9:30am-12noon) “What’s My Next Step?” The Organized Genealogist” by Drew Smith Computer Special Interest Group (about 12:30 p.m.).SEE PAGE 14 Tuesday, February 5 (9:30am-12noon) “GenealogyBank.com: Learn How to Document the Daily Life of Your Ancestor” by Tom Kemp Computer Special Interest Group (starting about 12:30 p.m.) Tuesday, March 4 (9:30am-12noon) “Saving A Life: Your Family’s Health History” by Donna M. Moughty Computer Special Interest Group (starting about 12:30 p.m.) Tuesday, April 1 (9:30am-12noon) “In the Wilderness and on the Battlefield with your Civil War Ancestor” by Sharon Tate Moody Computer Special Interest Group (starting about 12:30 p.m.) Tuesday, May 6 (9:30am-12noon) “Understanding Pennsylvania Land Records from Colonial Times” by Jean Morris Computer Special Interest Group (starting about 12:30 p.m.)

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JOTS FROM JEAN!

To readers who were interested in my Fraktur article, I added some new information. My Summer 2007 issue ofPennsylvania Heritage publ. by the Pa. Historical & Museum Commission, Harrisburg PA contains a short article "Folk ArtTradition" about a folk art display which opened there this summer and which features fraktur, salt-glazed stoneware,tanware, quilts, coverlets, samplers and painted furniture, all of which possess Pennsylvania origins. Pictured in themagazine is a chest of drawers made in 1867 by Jeremiah Stahl (1830-1907) of Soap Hollow, Somerset County; a Taufscheinin pen and ink and watercolor on paper made in 1792 for Elizabeth Reimer by Johannes Ernst Spangenberg (active circa1792-1822); and a decorated two-handled ten-gallon cooler dated April 10, 1860 and impressed J. McKenzie. A catalog ofthe exhibit is available for $29.95 from The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg PA and at their web site. The Fall 2007 issue of the same periodical features "Washington Crosses the Delaware," an enormously popular holidaytradition since 1953, the re-enactment of Washington's crossing of the ice-choked Delaware River on Christmas night in1776 remains every bit as remarkable as it was at its debut there 54 years ago. The reenactment is hosted by the 500-acrepark in Bucks County, administered by PHMC, recalls the daring river crossing by the American forces that allowed them tomarch on Trenton NJ changing the course of the American Revolution - and world history - in favor of the colonies. Eachyear, on Christmas Day, visitors throng the park to watch authentically costumed re-enactors navigate the river. "Ourcrossing is among the most powerful performances offered by historic sites and museums in the country," says Hilary K.Jebitsch, site administrator. "Our players give visitors an unforgettable experience by showing them this was no easy feat,especially because Washington did not begin 'the crossing' until sundown. He and his men, about 2400 in all, maneuveredboats until 4 o'clock the next morning. They began their journey as a dispirited, ragtag army, but emerged as victors. Thisyear the 'crossing' begins Tue.Dec.25 at 1:00 p.m. Admission on this day is free. They also offer a dress rehearsal on SundayDec. 9 for which there is a small fee. I've been there often and it is always a moving experience. Jean Visit their web site at www.ushistory.org/washingtoncrossing Two new books about the site are available at PHMC & at their web site www.PAbookstore.com They are #0351Washington Crossing Historic Park: Pa. Train of History Guide @ $10.00 and Washington's Crossing #379 @ $19.95. You canalso subscribe to Pennsylvania History at this site for $25. yearly. The History of Company C., 50th Pennsylvania Veterans Volunteer Infantry Regiment: From the Camp, the Battlefield, andthe Prison Pen, 1861-1865, by J.Stuart Richards, publ. by The History Press, 2006, 223pp., paper $21.99. Johnstown, Pennsylvania: A History , Part Two: 1937-1980, by Randy Whittle, publ. by The History Press, 2007; 256pp.,paper, $24.99. "Translations On-Line" http://babelfish.yahoo.com (allows you to type or copy and paste text up to 150 words. You canselect "the form and to languages" and this site can translate web pages). http://ajax.parish.ath.cx/translator/ (you canselect a language, type or paste up to 150 words and it translates as you type). http://www.polyglotto.com/index8php(you can select a language and then type your message. When you click submit the program repeats the message in thetranslated form. Imagine your computer speaking a foreign language to you!). (Borrowed from Ted Soucy's article in TheCharlotte County GS Sept. 2007) Indiana University-Purdue University Library has a large collection of digitized documents, maps and atlases, citydirectories, indexes, books, old magazines, and photographs available free on-line. More is being added all the time.www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalcollections/home.html (from Ancestry Weekly Journal, April 23, 2007 www.Ancestry.com) Microsoft has a free stand alone PowerPoint Viewer for those who do not wish to invest in programs such as MicrosoftOffice 2007. Download the free Openoffice.org program. After you download and install the Viewer, it will run withoutintervention from the person using the computer. To view a video created using Microsoft Power Point, just click on thename and the file should open. The download can be found at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details "World Connect" database. If you don't subscribe to this free Newsletter, you should consider doing so. If you want to seethe latest issue, go to Archives 2007 on their web site and click on an issue. If you have a database with many people, it isalmost certain that you will find someone else searching the same families. Go to http://newsletters.rootsweb.com formore details.

CRACKER CRUMBS Page 3 (“Jots from Jean” continued from previous page) New Jersey issues of The Cranbury Press (Cranbury NJ) from 1886 to 1926 are available on a fully searchable web site hosted by the Cranbury Public Library and the Cranbury Historic Preservation Society at www.cranburypubliclibrary.org/databases.htm (From the Genealogical Society of New Jersey Newsletter, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 2007) Connecticut. The CT Legislature has funded a special project of the Connecticut State Library and the Department of Education. The project is www.iConn.org which bills itself as "Connecticut's Research Engine." It provides access to an array of info of great value to genealogists i.e. modern issues (roughly the last two decades' worth) of the following newspapers: Boston Globe, Hartford Courant. Also available are historical copies of the Hartford Courant from October 1764 through 1922. The History reference center provides articles from magazines, journals, reference and non-fiction works, biographies, and documents, as well as maps and photographs. There is a database of CT History Online and an Encyclopedia of CT History. The reQuest Statewide Library Catalog allows users to search more than 400 library catalogs from institutions throughout the state. The research databases are available only to CT residents BUT the request Statewide Library Catalog is open to ANYONE. (From NEHGS eNews, May 9, 2007) Scottish Ancestors? The Scottish equivalent of English parish registers are searchable online at www.scltlandspeople.gov.uk Available for some time, they have added images to the pages. This is a major enhancement of the service. The earliest existing parish register is from Errol in Fife in 1553, but most begin in the mid to late 1600s or early 1700s. In remote areas such as the Outer Hebrides, it is common to find that the start date was the early 1800s. However, the most important thing to realize about these records is that they relate only to members of the Established Church of Scotland (ECoS). (Our thanks to Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, www.eogn.com January 25, 2007) Recent OnLine Obituaries a valuable tool is powered by Legacy.com, take a look at their main site at www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp here you will see a list of US states and newspapers there under. There is also a link to Canadian obits. Try the advanced search feature. Here you can do a search in ALL major newspapers in the US and Canada, or you can search in any newspaper individually. Check every 2 weeks for when you find an obit over 30 days old, there will be a fee. Remember also to check the guest book for family members, cousins, etc. who may leave a message hopefully with their email address. (From Treasure Maps Genealogy E-Mail Newsletter, April 2007 © 1995-2007 by Robert Ragan). German Language Newspapers A good place to look for old obituaries. To determine if a German language paper was published for the time and place you need, and to locate which repository holds copies, consult German-American Newspapers and Periodicals 1732-1955: History & Bibliography by Karl Arndt and May Olson. Often the obit will be in a German-language paper but not in an English one. The obits are often surrounded by a thick black border with the decedent's name at the top, thus making them easy to locate. (In Pittsburgh PA there were many German language newspapers, but none of them has been abstracted in the Carnegie Library-Oakland database. They are microfilmed and you can use them for your research but the staff will not research them for you.) The German-English Genealogical Dictionary by Ernest Thode can be helpful in translating. (Our thanks to St. Louis MO Genealogical Society News 'n Notes, Vol. 29 No. 12, Dec 1987) For those who enjoyed my article on "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery" I suggest you pick up a copy of National Geographic June 2007 Vol. 211 No. 6 for a poignant article by Rick Atkinson entitled "Arlington: The National Cemetery." The photographs accompanying the article are exceptional and quite moving. There is a topographical map of the cemetery. If you cannot purchase a copy, visit your local library. Also visit their web site at www.ngm.com/0706. Carved in Stone. After their earthly toils are finished, gardeners and others from around Neepawa, Manitoba, in Canada can rest in petunias. Annually, over 2500 graves are planted with red and white petunias through a special grounds-care program. A friend said that the first time she visited the town, her hostess told her she was taking her to one of areas most beautiful tourist attractions. When she was told it was a cemetery, she was doubtful...until she saw the breathtaking site for herself. [From Country Woman Sept.Oct 2006 pages 24-25] as well as the next entry. (see page 8 for the rest of “Jots from Jean”!

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MATERIALS ADDED TO GENEALOGY COLLECTION AT CENTRAL LIBRARY

RECEIVED DECEMBER 07- (SUBMITTED BY PAM GIBSON) Gen 929.374 And The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635. By Robert Charles Anderson. Volumes 4 (I-L) and Vol. 5 (M-P) of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society’s Great Migration Project. Published in 2007. Gen 929.343 Dob Scottish-German Links, 1550 to 1850. By David Dobson. paperback, 93 pages with illustrations and names in nice large print. Published by Clearfield for G.P.C. in 2007. Gen 929.3759 Col Colonization and Conquest: British Florida in the Eighteenth Century. By Lawrence H. Feldman. First half of book are lists of names, latter half is an annotated bibliography of sources: books, manuscripts and archives. Published by Clearfield for G.P.C. in 2007. Gen 907.2 Mil Evidence Explained: citing history sources from artifacts to cyberspace. By

Elizabeth Sloan Mills. A guidebook providing citation models for most types of records encountered by genealogical researchers. Chapters cover the fundamentals of citations and evidence analysis; cemetery, census, and church records; local and state records (courts, licenses, registrations, vital records, property and probates); records of national governments; and publications of various types from books and periodicals to CDs and web miscellanea. The book also provides much useful background information on the origins of most types of genealogical records. This book is a must if you are going to publish your family history or engage in any professional writing. (above-review from Mel Ely)

Gen 929.373 Boc Bounty and Donation Land Grants in British Colonial America. By Lloyd deWitt Bockstruck. Published by G.P.C. in 2007. With an introduction to sources. Gen 929.3758 Daf Historical collections of the Georgia Chapters of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Volume 3: Records of Elbert County, Georgia. Originally printed by Stein Printing Company in 1930, Reprinted by Georgia Genealogical Reprints, 1976? Includes wills and Administration and Guardian records. Gen 929.342 Emi Emigration from the United Kingdom to America: Lists of Passengers arriving at U.S. Ports. Volume 1, January 1870-June 1870. Volume 2, July 1870-December 1870. Volume 3, January 1871 – June 1871. Volume 4, July 1871 – April 1872. By Ira A. Glazier. Published by Scarecrow Press, 2006. Gen 929.3772 Sel Jay County Cemetery Locations. (Indiana). By Kathy Selman. Published by Jay County Genealogical Society, 2005. Paperback, 18 pages with large print listing and county map. Gen 929.3493 Goe Searching for Flemish (Belgian) Ancestors. By Jozef J. Goethals in collaboration with Karel Denys, CICM. Published by Clearfield for G.P.C., 2007. Paperback, 81 pages with glossery of Flemish, French and Latin terms. With map and lists of first names and Flemish surnames.

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SPECIAL ARTICLE! (submitted by Jean Morris)

naturalizations by

Elizabeth J. Wall * "Naturalization is the admission of a foreign subject or citizen into the political body of a nation, and the bestowal upon him of the quality of a citizen." In the United States, the exclusive control over the admission of individuals to citizenship by the process of naturalization is vested in Congress by the Federal Constitution, Article I, Section 8, whereby Congress is given power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization through the United States." Prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, most of the thirteen colonies had general naturalization laws in force which varied widely in the different colonies. Hence, the Act of 1790 was the first response of Congress to the grant of power to pass a uniform rule of naturalization. More immediately it was a response to the following clause from George Washington's annual message [January 8, 1790]. "Various considerations also render it expedient that the terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization." The bill was reported by a special committee of three appointed on the recommendation of the House Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, to prepare and bring in a bill or bills for establishing a uniform rule of naturalization. The new law provided for the naturalization of free white aliens after two years residence in the United States, upon application to any common law court of record in the state where they had resided for one year. They were to satisfy the court of their good character, and take an oath administered by the court to support the Constitution of the United States. Minor children resident in the United States at the time became citizens of the United States also. Children born abroad of citizens were to be natural-born citizens of the United States, unless the father had never resided in the United States. Any citizen already proscribed by a state was not to be readmitted to citizenship except by the act of the legislature of the proscribing state. Prior to 1906, the naturalization process has been established in its essentials by the Law of 1795. At the beginning of the session of 1794-95, a House committee prepared a bill to amend the Act of 1790. The measure, reported by Madison as chairman, was debated at length, and variously amended, and by recommittal, lost its original character as an amendment to the Act of 1790, and became a substitute for it. Further debate and several amendments prepared it for the Senate. The Naturalization Act of 1795 stated that: 1. Three years before naturalization, a declaration of intention must be sworn to in a state or Federal court. This must cover two points - intent to become a citizen, and intent to renounce all foreign allegiance. 2. At the time of applying for citizenship, the alien must declare on oath that he has resided five years in the United States (and one year in the state or territory), that he does renounce all foreign allegiance, and that he will support the Constitution of the United States. 3. The court must be satisfied of his residence, good moral character during the required five years, and that he has been for that time "attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same." 4. Any title or order of nobility must be renounced. The Bill made an exception in favor of aliens resident in the U.S. at the time of its passage. They were to be naturalized upon declaring two years' residence, and meeting the other requirements. The provisions of the Act of 1790 in regard to children and proscribed persons were re-enacted. New points in the laws were: longer residence (continued on next page)

Page 6 CRACKER CRUMBS (CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE) and a preliminary declaration of intent, renunciation of former allegiance and of any title or order of nobility, more specific mention of the courts empowered to naturalize, the proof of attachment to the Constitution and the country. No requirement of the former law was omitted. Although Congress established a uniform rule of naturalization in 1790, making naturalization a function of specified courts, there was, except for the brief period from 1798 to 1802, no provision for a federal, central agency to supervise the administration of naturalizations and the maintenance of records until 1906. For the period 1798 to 1802 Clerks of Courts were required to transmit abstracts of the declaration and also the naturalization to the Secretary of State. Aside from this four-year period, each court having naturalization jurisdiction judged for itself how the laws should be administered and the kind of records to be kept. Such a system naturally resulted in an utter lack of uniformity as to the form of the certificates. Also because of its alliance with political grafters, naturalization became a source of public scandal, frauds, including perjury, false impersonation, and traffic in counterfeit certificates were common.

Many were naturalized on-age by the Act of 1824 which read: "The petitioner has resided in the United States three years previous to his arriving at the age of 21 years, and has continued to reside therein and that he is now 21 years of age and upwards. He therefore prays your honors to admit him to become a citizen of the United States of America agreeably to the Act of Congress passed the 24th day of May A.D. 1824."

Until 1870, the only class of aliens eligible for naturalization were "aliens being free white persons." On

July 1 4, 1870, the naturalization laws were extended to: aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent." By the Laws of 1906, the naturalization laws were made applicable to a class of non-aliens who were not citizens; this group consisted of "all persons not citizens who owe permanent allegiance to the United States, and who may become residents of any state or organized Territory of the United States.

As of June 29, 1906, there are three (3) distinct steps to be taken before the naturalization process has

been completed, and a certificate of naturalization issued to an alien. They are: 1. The filing of the Declaration of Intention (first paper). The Declaration of Intention may be made at any time after the alien is in this country but it must be made at least two years prior to his admission to citizenship, and after he has reached the age of 18 years. 2. The filing of the Petition (second paper). The petition for citizenship, accompanied by two photographs

for the petitioner, must be made not less than two, nor more than seven years after the declaration of intention, and immediately preceding the date of his petition, the applicant must have resided continuously within the United States for at least five years and within the county where the petitioner

resided at the time of filing his petition, for at least 6 months. He is also required to reside continuously in the United States from the date of his petition up to the time of his admission to citizenship. The petition must be signed by the applicant in his own handwriting and must further more be verified by two credible witnesses, who are citizens of the United States, who shall state in their affidavits that they have known the applicant to have been a resident at such place and for the required period, and that he is of good moral character and qualified to be admitted as a citizen.

3. The hearing on the petition, resulting in the granting of the certificate of citizenship or final papers. The final paper is the Certificate of Naturalization, which is granted after the final hearing n open court on the petition, and after all the requirements have been fulfilled.

Before being admitted to citizenship, it must appear to the satisfaction of the court, that during the required period of residence within the United States, the applicant has "behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same."

Note: The Act of June 29, 1906 enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of

America in Congress assembled provided, "That the Immigration and Naturalizations Service, under the direction and control of the Attorney General, shall have charge of all matters concerning the naturalizations of aliens." * Elizabeth J. Wall, decd., former chair of the Naturalization committee of Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, 1978. Permission given verbally to Jean O. Morris to publish in 1982.

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Welcome back to all of our returning Snowbirds. We have some outstanding programs planned for the rest of the year. On Jan 8th, Drew Smith will be showing us how to get organized. I don’t know about you, but my genealogy papers are about to overwhelm me. In March Donna Moughty will give her brand new presentation about how to trace your family’s health history; this should be very interesting and important. Happy Holidays to everyone and “God Yul” to those with Swedish ancestors!

Anne

********************************************************************************************************************************* DENIZATIONS

(submitted by jean morris)

The question of citizenship became an important issue early in the American colonial experience. The colonies needed settlers for military security, economic prosperity, and population growth. Since not enough English colonists were available to fulfill these demands, the colonies invited foreigners to do so. Many of these non-English settlers sought citizenship before leaving for America. Still others sought an English grant after their arrival. They could follow two main avenues to British citizenship - one was naturalization, the other denization. Initially during the 17th century and first decade of the 18th century, French Huguenots accounted for the majority of non-English stock seeking citizenship. German colonists, however, surpassed their number thereafter. While Germans accounted for the largest number of alien colonists to gain British citizenship between 1607 and 1776, other settlers seeking citizenship were from Bohemia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Colonial denization and naturalization records are difficult to find since their location varies from one Colony to another. They may be found at the local jurisdictional level as well as the colonial level, in court minutes, government records, deed books, legislative journals, statutes, private papers of proprietors such as William Penn (for Pennsylvania these can be found in the Published Pennsylvania Archives), and land patents. There is a recent publication which can shed light on this difficult subject, it is: Bockstruck, Lloyd deWitt Denizations and Naturalizations in the British Colonies in America, 1607-1775, xv + 350pp., indexed paperback, 2005 ISBN 0-8063-1754-X, publ. Gen.Publ.Co., Baltimore MD. In the above mentioned work, we find more than 13,000 persons listed in this invaluable work, some or all of the following information is given: place and date of naturalization or denization; names of spouse and children, as well as where or when they were naturalized or endenized; country of origin; religion; length of time in the colony; location of current residence; occupation; and any alternate names found in the records. Primary surnames are arranged alphabetically for easy reference, while a separate index itemizes spouses, children, and other parties mentioned in the records. Included also is an Appendix listing more than 1,000 naturalizations granted by the French in Quebec, most of which involved individuals from the English colonies.

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT!

Page 8 CRACKER CRUMBS “Jots from jean” (CONTINUED): On October 3rd MGS members were entertained by Barbara Schultz, our local member who spoke about her Jamestowne Virginia ancestors and the celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown this year in Virginia where the National Genealogical Society held its annual meeting. In the May 2007, Vol. 211 No. 8 issue of National Geographic Magazine is an article by Charles C. Mann entitled "America Found & Lost" where the title page reads 'Much of what we learned in grade school about the New World encountered by the colonists at Jamestown is wrong. Four hundred years later, historians are piecing together the real story. A must read article even if you don't have an ancestor who arrived there in 1607. This issue included one of their fold-out maps, called A World Transformed with maps of the colony from 1491 forward showing Florida north to New England, with Native-American villages, and colonial settlements with reverse maps of the Powhatan Indian settlement of Werowocomoco, and the New World settlement of Jamestown. For an artistic look see more of John White's watercolors depicting Indian life in 16th century America at www.ngm.com/0705. For information on White's work at the British Museum go to www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/anewworld. Non-subscribers can purchase a copy of this magazine and others from The National Geographic Society at their website. In Edmonson County KY, the members of Hill Grove Church put some 'mussel' into making their cemetery unique. "For 96 years they have been covering graves in their churchyard with moss, bleached mussel shells and flowers. In the early days, folks gathered moss in the woods, and collected mussels at the river. The shells were emptied, boiled in lye and scraped until they shone a dazzling white. INSTANT refers to the present or current month. ULTIMO refers to the last month, or in the month preceding the current month. How do these words affect genealogical research? When abstracting old newspapers, church records, etc., abstractors should always copy Instant or Ultimo exactly as they appear, i.e. "Fred Jones died on the 12th Inst," means he died on the 12th of the current month. "Fred Jones died on the 12th Ultimo," means that he died on the 12th day of the previous month.

ROMAN NUMERALS

A repeated letter repeats its value; a letter placed after one of greater value adds to it; a letter placed before one of greater value subtracts from it; a dash line over a letter denotes multiplied by 1,000.

I………………..1 XXIX……………..29 LXXV……………….75 DC………………..600 II……………….2 XXX……………...30 LXXIX………………79 DCC……………...700 III………………3 XXXV…………….35 LXXX……………….80 DCCC……………800 IV………………4 XXXIX…………...39 LXXXV……………..85 CM……………….900 V……………….5 XL………………...40 LXXXIX…………….89 M…………………1000 VI………………6 LXV……………….45 XC…………………..90 MD……………….1500 VII……………..7 XLIX…………....49 XCV………………...95 MM………………2000 VIII…………….8 L…………………..50 XCIX………………..99 MMM……………3000 IX………………9 LV………………...55 C…………………….100 MMMM or MV.....4000 X………………10 LIX………………..59 CL………………….150 V…………………5000 XV…………….15 LX………………...60 CC………………….200 M…………………1,000,000 XIX……………19 LXV……………....65 CCC………………..300 XX…………….20 LXIX……………...69 CD………………….400 XXV…………..25 LXX………………..70

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“Jots from jean” (CONTINUED): Try http://earth.google.com A fascinating site, you will find yourself spending hours having fun sightseeing from one place in the world to another. You can see your house, or any other house, from a satellite's view. All views are probably a few years old. When you get into Google Earth and begin checking its features, you will be amazed at how much geography, history and useful genealogical info you can find. When you pull up the site on your Internet service, and the home page comes up, check out the various services available both FREE and for a FEE. The free ones will keep you busy for a long while. Go to the top of the page and click on Download. Follow instructions and promptly you will have Google Earth on your computer. After that explore! You can take a tour of Germany, or anywhere in the world. You can take a tour to see the places in America where your families settled and learn about the towns and the history of these places. From Geneagram: Official Newsletter of the Charlotte County [FL] Genealogical Society, Nov. 2007 Vol. 31 No. 9 p. 6-7. www.worldvitalrecords.com now has most of the U.S. census 1790-1920 in its collection. To learn more, visit this web site. Many subscriptions for a fee database sites are also available FREE. Visit this site. http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-description.jsp?s=3360 to access WWII enlistments 1938-1946 http://books.google.com to check the text of books, it will tell you which books include your search terms! www.familysearch.org lists Ancestral File research which may have been done by another family member or church who submitted their files. Irish Newspapers: http://irelandoldnews.com/ (Irish death notices) www.irelandoldnews.com/obits

At the BYU Family Archives, a joint effort by Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne IN & the Family History Library in Salt Lake. You can search for a full name by going to the advanced search and it will give you a list of the volumes containing that surname. When you click on the book, it will open to the page where the name appears. http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/

A word of caution about the Germans to America series. Many people are missing, especially those from places like Austria, Switzerland etc. Their web site contains articles about the series and they may give you some useful ideas for your own research. www.uni-oldenburg.de/nausa/passfe.htm

Mortality Schedules the following web address will take you to a web site containing the Mortality schedules for the U.S. for 1850,1860,1870,1880. These schedules list people who died within the 12 months preceding the census. www.mortalityschedules.com/

The National Genealogical Society [NGS] has uploaded one million ancestoral names from its Member Ancestry Chart (MAC) collection. All of the names are searchable, including separate entries for women's maiden surnames. It is available to all NGS members at www.ngsgenealogy.org.

March 2007 the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities announced the online versions of public-domain newspapers from CA FL KY NY UT VA and DC between 1900-1910 at www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/

Google's Sitemap protocol now includes AZ CA UT and VA, check their site for more inclusions: www.google.com/ig/usgov World Vital Records adds Historical Society of Wisconsin Collections vols. 1-6 and 10-20 plus an index for the first 20 volumes. This exceptional collection consists of historical data about Wisconsin, essays with info about the earliest settlers and pioneers, industries and trades in the state. Check this and other collections out at their web site at www.WorldVitalRecords.com

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Page 10 CRACKER CRUMBS “Jots from jean” (CONTINUED):

HistoryKat adds to its U.S. Postal Records. New records at this site include an Index to Railway Postal clerks 1883-1902; Index to postal law violators; "first returns" listing postmaster appointees 1789-1832; separation cards of terminated letter carriers 1863-1899; records of substitute clerks 1899-1905; and mail carriers 1899-1903. HistoryKat comes from Genealogy Toolbox Web portal and TreEZy genealogy search engine, also has records of For City Directories that are printed, microfilmed or online, go to www.uscitydirectories.com Visit www.stevemorse.org for info on two new search tools, both listed in the "Births, Deaths, and Other Vital Records" section, where you will find: Social Security Numbers: Decoding SS numbers in One Step. Credit Card Numbers: Validating these numbers in One Step. Discover your roots with world wide family trees. Find your ancestors at www.genebase.com Although the site is free, you must register to obtain data. Search millions of records and reunite with friends and family at www.reunion.com . It too is free but you must register to obtain data. Try http://www.yivo.org/library/index.php?aid=212&tid=79> for resources and general tips for researching your Jewish family history. The above information from Mishpochology Vol. 12 No. 4 Dec 2007 Jewish Genealogical Society of Southwest Florida.

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New from www.PAbookstore.com • Pennsylvania Civil War Trails: The Guide to Battle Sites, Monuments, and

Museums and Towns by Tom Huntington, 2006. 160pp. 5-5.x8.5, 60 photos, 2 maps. Item #196 (paper) $14.95

• Documenting Pennsylvania's Past edited by Willis L. Shirk Jr., 2003. This work tells the story of Pennsylvania history through its documentary heritage. Early maps, photographs, posters, land surveys, legal records, journal entries, letters, architectural drawings are presented in full color. 242pp. 8.5x11 (paper) Item #456 $24.95

• Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, a quarterly magazine about Pa, old & new. ___________________________________

CRACKER CRUMBS Page 11 Below is a wonderful article by Wayne Curtis, a freelance journalist from New Orleans.

Lords of the Rings by Wayne Curtis*

When Paul Krusic knocks on the door of a colonial house in New England, the owners tend not to be overly receptive. That's because he is a climate researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who travels with a drill equipped with an outsized bit. He isn't terribly interested in the house's chamfered edges or how the roof was framed or why the builders opted for a fanlight instead of sidelights around the front door. Thinking of the ancient oak timbers inside the walls, he is hoping to go inside and begin drilling holes. Krusic's job is to reconstruct the climates of eras past, and the timbers in a very old house - particularly the way their tree rings are patterned - can tell him much. Some of the houses that Krusic has encountered - can tell him a great deal. Some of them were made from trees that germinated before Columbus left Spain and were harvested before tea went into Boston's harbor. Last spring, the ell of a 1752 house outside Hartford was found to have been built with oak timbers that germinated sometime in the 1400s. And a house in New York's Hudson River valley, it turns out, has timbers dating back to 1429. "We envision homes as remnants," says Krusic. "They're what's left of our precolonial forests." In those scattered vestiges of ancient woodlands, we look for fingerprints the weather left behind. As a result of this work, climate researchers have arrived at some striking conclusions about regional weather in the past. Architectural historians, keen to know exactly when America's oldest houses were built, have been using the techniques as well. After, all, the impressive brass plaques seen on so many early houses are often the result of educated guesswork. The science of dendrochronology, the dating of trees by the careful analysis of their rings, is changing all that - and leading to some surprising, even revolutionary discoveries. A great many houses, it turns out, are not as old as previously thought. "For me, dendrochchronology has been a disaster, and I mean a real disaster," says Abbott Lowell Cummings, who at 83 years, is the dean of early American architecture. "architectural history is going to have to be rewritten. There is no question about that now." The annual growth rings found inside trees have long fascinated those of an analytical bent. As far back as the middle of the 19th century, Charles Babbage, the English mathematician whose "analytical machine: made him the grandfather of computing, concluded that tree rings contained data, both quantitative (the number of years a tree lived) and qualitative (how wet or dry the successive years of the tree's life were)." Dendochronology, as an applied science, was pioneered in the Southwest in the early 1900s. An aspiring astronomer named Andrew Ellicott Douglass was sent to northern Arizona to help build an observatory. While clearing the land of gnarly ancient pines, he observed that the concentric growth rings of those trees had distinctive thick-and-thin patterns. With some adept observation, he concluded that these patterns could be linked from tree to tree, and he was able to draw large conclusions about regional weather patterns from this relatively small amount of information. For decades, dendrochronology remained confined chiefly to the Southwest, where extreme cycles of flood and drought led to especially distinct tree rings. "Even a small change in rainfall over a forest in, say, northeastern Arizona," Krusic says, "has an obvious impact on ring size for that year. East of the Mississippi, however, was classically thought of as terra incognita in terms of dendrochronology. There was a belief up until about the 1970s that the trees wouldn't produce distinct annual rings that could be cross-dated." That assumption proved incorrect. It isn't nearly as easy to study trees in the Northeast, but technology has helped immensely. By employing tools such as binocular microscopes that can accurately measure the width of the rings, and by using desktop computers to analyze the data, the code has been broken for many eastern tree species. Since 2000, more than 100 homes in the Northeast have been sampled and dated, and great strides have been made elsewhere, too, especially around the Tidewater region of Virginia, where some 300 old houses have been dendro-dated.

Page 12 CRACKER CRUMBS The practice of dendrochronology starts inside the house to be dated, where floorboards are pried up and casings peeled back to expose the original structural timbers. (Sampling can often be done less intrusively in attics and basements, but the process can nevertheless be disconcerting to owners.) The ideal timbers have traces of bark, ensuring that the outermost ring of the sample corresponds to the final year of growth. A corer-borer is then applied to the timber, and after a few minutes of dental-drill sounds, out comes a long, half-inch-diameter cylinder of striped wood. What's left behind is a neat and harmless hole that might have been the work of a large but tidy termite. The wood sample next moves to the lab, where it is planed flat along one side, then placed beneath a binocular microscope so that the width of each ring can be measured. The data are fed to a computer and neatly converted into series of numbers. At this point, the old house - a place where babies are born and died, where meals were shared and couples fought and life was lived - has been reduced to something that looks like a spreadsheet. It is essential to get multiple core samples from each site. Two dozen or so samples are typically extracted from different timbers within a house. Each sample should have at least 50 rings, preferably twice that, for a chance at successful dating. The process is easily confounded. One wall of a house may have been built with stray timbers from an older dis-used outbuilding. Or a beam from an original house might be mixed in with timbers cut when an ell was added a century later. There can be other complications. During the New England summer of 1816 growth rings did not form. Such untidiness vexes the dendrochronologist. So the computer runs numbers obtained from each sample against all other samples from the same house. Those numbers that produce statistically valid matches are combined to create another series of numbers, called the site master. The computer then statistically compares the site master with all available master chronologies - that is compilations of data from other house studies and centuries-old living trees. Even though 90% of New England's original forest has been cut at least once, pockets of ancient living trees do exist. A 415 year old spruce was discovered in the White Mountains of NH, a 369 year old yellow birch on a hillside in central MA, and a 426 year old red spruce in North Turner, ME. Some nine master chronologies have been amassed for regions ranging from Boston to Williamsburg VA., and more are being started and refined each year. If all goes well, the computer finally produces a single four-digit number; the date when the logs in the house were cut. Even under ideal conditions, dendro-dating can come up empty-handed. Sometimes the various samples from a house fail to line up with one another. At other times the site master refuses to link with any known regional chronologies. Dendrochronologists talk resignedly about "the Long Island problem." Core samplings of seven houses east of NYC have proven by and large impervious to dating, possibly because the low-lying damp soil of the region produced trees with less-defined ring patterns. Much the same problem has afflicted sampling in coastal MA region south of Boston. When the process works and a definitive year emerges from the statistical soup, dendrochronology is impressively accurate. "The timing is precise," says Krusic, noting that tree rings serve up not only the specific year in which a house was built (construction typically occurred within a year of a tree's being felled, since carpenters preferred to work softer green wood rather than drier old wood) but also the season within that year when the tree was cut. All this means that science is increasingly challenging many of our historical assumptions. In 2004 dendro-dating on what was long purported to be the Kentucky log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born revealed that it was no such thing. Lincoln was born in 1809, but the logs were proven to have been cut in the 1840s and 1850s; apparently a hustler had built the cabin in the 1890s from logs scavenged from older cabins, and thus 'invented' Lincoln's birthplace. Abbott Lowell Cummings who lived not far from the Connecticut River in western MA states that prior to dendrochronology, houses were dated by studying marriage records and land deeds, and by closely examining architectural detailing for clues. Using this approach he had identified about a dozen houses that he thought were built in the First Period - i.e. prior to 1650 - by immigrant carpenters using techniques learned in Europe. All of them save one were actually built after 1664 (the exception being the Fairbanks House in Dedham MA built in 1636). "Dendro has woken us all from our long winter's nap," he says shaking his head. If records suggest that a certain house existed in a particular location in, say, 1640, but tree ring dating shows that the house currently in that location was really built two decades later, how can we account for that lacuna (a gap, a missing part)? One possibly is that earlier houses were simply leveled and replaced by more solid buildings when

CRACKER CRUMBS Page 13 the owners could afford it. "Did we start out right at the very start in America and build what we had to build, then tear it down to build something better?" Cummings asks. "That's probably the most far-out reason I could give." In 2001, Bill Flynt began working with Paul Krusic to precisely date the historic buildings in his western MA community. Flynt is the architectural conservator at Historic Deerfield, a village that was first settled in 1669 and today is a leafy landscape of well-tended 18th and 19th century houses. "We started with the house next door," Flynn tells me one day over lunch at The Deerfield Inn. "We had to start with something, and this was well dated, so we went with this." That house next door was the gambrel-roofed Joseph Stebbins House. Flynt and Krusic sampled it first in large part because they had sound documentation for it: Entries in a neighbor's journal described the building of the house in 1773. This allowed them to anchor the ring patterns to a proven date, which in turn helped establish dates for other buildings. Flynt has since taken core samples of some 23 homes in Deerfield and a similar number of other historic houses in the Connecticut River valley. He says that he has found evidence of large-scale rebuilding in Deerfield. Of the several modest houses that were featured in an early 18th century illustration of Deerfield, nothing exists today except a few timbers. The old village, Flynt says, which was first built in the 1730s, was gradually transformed - houses were added on to, embellished, and disassembled - and a new one replaced it within a decade. Could it be that teardowns are part of our American DNA? Is it a stretch to suggest that in Deerfield - and in colonial America more generally - one finds the prototype of the McMansion subdivision? Even sampling 19th century structures, which in general are better documented than older buildings, can prove informative. David Stahle, director of the Tree-Ring Laboratory at the University of Arkansas, says that dendrochronology has helped redate several Arkansas buildings. "A lot of supposed antebellum structures were actually built in the 1870s," he says. "Many structures didn't survive the war and were rebuilt on the site. It speaks to the reality of the hardships of war." Of course, dendrochronology has wider implications in understanding our nation's history. "It's only been recently that we've been able to look at our cultural history with a very detailed climate history." says Paul Krusic. "This is going to be a new area - and probably a new direction - for historians with a bent toward climate." Stahle has worked with historians, for example, to develop a more complete picture of what happened to the first colonists in the Tidewater area. "We have living trees that are 600 to 1,000 years old nearby and we used them to develop a 1,000-year-long chronology." It soon became apparent that 1587 was the driest single year in an eight-century span. "And 1587 was the year the Lost Colony [in nearby North Carolina] disappeared from history." Stahle says that a similar story played out in the first seven years of the hardship-plagued Jamestown colony, first settled in 1607. The English colonists, tree ring analysis has shown, tried to establish themselves during the driest seven-year period in nearly a millennium. The colonists, dependent on trade with the local Indians, faced sweeping food shortages as Native traders tended first to their own needs. Even the colony's wells turned brackish as groundwater dried up. "The whole [economic] system was sensitive to climate," Stahle says. "There are mortality statistics for the first 18 years at Jamestown, and there's a strong correlation between the number of people who died and the reconstructed climate found in tree rings. It was a vulnerable time." Studied elsewhere have indicated that climatic conditions in the Southwest and Mexico were ripe for the spread of the indigenous hanta virus just when the first Europeans arrived in the 16th century, suggesting that smallpox from the Old World may not have been responsible for the decimation of Native populations. And weather conditions around the time of the Salem witch trials are being used to examine the case for a persistent (if much-questioned) theory that a form of hallucinogenic fungus may have appeared on wheat or other crops, and induced a sort of mass hysteria among those who ate it. With growing concern about global warming and the earth's future, climate studies have been slipping out of academic backwaters and into the mainstream. "One of the first questions is, 'What will happen to us?" says Krusic. "That's the perfect question for someone like me, who tries to answer the same question for what has happened in the past. Climate gets tough, and living conditions get tough. People have to find new solutions. They abandon old practices and adopt new ones. "Our oldest houses, in other words, may contain clues to what the future may hold. * Wayne Curtis is a freelance journalist from New Orleans. Permission has been given by Mr. Curtis and Preservation:The Magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Volume 58, Number 3, May/June 2006 www.preservation.org by Stephanie Smith, Editorial Assistant

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Computer SIG News

Our group of about 25 interested genealogists has been meeting on Wednesday afternoons following the Manasota Genealogical Society (MGS) meeting. We meet in the Activities Room of The Courtyards, 222 Old Main Street. If you haven't been there it's the large building immediately across street just east of the Central Library upper parking lot.

As you know the MGS meetings beginning in January will be changed from the first Wednesday of the month to the first Tuesday due to the change in hours of the Central Library. So the next meeting of the Computer SIG will be at 12:30PM, Tuesday, January 8th, 2008, following the MGS meeting. We will be at our usual place in The Courtyards.

The Computer SIG meetings will return to the Central Library, but not until February 2008 due to previous library scheduling. So our meeting on Tuesday, February 5th and all subsequent sessions will be in the auditorium of the Central Library.

Everyone is welcome. Please bring your computer genealogy questions, tips to share and your favorite research web sites to discuss.

Ed Gaulin

Chairman, Computer SIG

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Retarded Grandparents After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following: "We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa who lived in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Florida. Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around in their bicycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore. They go to a building called a wreck center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming pool too, but all they do is jump up and down in it with their hats on. At their gate, there is a little doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts. Nobody there cooks, they just eat out, and they eat the same thing every night - early birds. Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center for pot luck. My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment, and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren."